European Old Testament Tragedies in the Age of Enlightenment

启蒙时代的欧洲旧约悲剧

• 批准号: 2587584
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2587584
• 关键词: European; Old; Testament; Tragedies; Age

The proposed doctoral project explores how tragedies based on the Old Testament constitute an innovative literary genre in the European eighteenth century. Tragedy has been highly debated in Europe ever since, and in the eighteenth century, theoretical treatises on the genre abounded. But although there was an upsurge in Old Testament tragedies then, the question of how biblical subjects should be dramatised was scarcely discussed. This is noteworthy, as tragedy was originally embedded in an inherently religious context, the Dionysia in ancient Greece. The insufficient preoccupation with biblical tragedy in eighteenth-century thought did not prevent authors like the German Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, the Swiss Johann Jakob Bodmer, or the Dane Johannes Ewald from dramatising Old Testament narratives and thus appropriating tragedy for Christian religion. Beyond the German-speaking and Scandinavian sphere, authors like Voltaire, the Italian Vittorio Alfieri, and the English writer Hannah More devoted tragedies to subjects taken from the Old Testament, though with a much more political character. The current state of the art of the research on these tragedies is limited. Murray Roston reconstructs the history of anglophone biblical drama in his book Biblical Drama in England from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (1968), but neglects the transnational context of the genre. Daniel Weidner examines eighteenth-century religious literature in his book Bibel und Literatur um 1800 (2011), but without a narrow focus on tragedy. Lynette R. Muir's The Biblical Drama of Medieval Europe (1995) deals with medieval biblical drama. Hence, a comparative analysis of eighteenth-century European Old Testament tragedies is overdue. The following questions serve as the starting point of the proposed thesis: How do European Old Testament tragedies from the eighteenth century constitute a transnational literary genre, to what extent do they incorporate potentially conflicting notions of Christian faith and enlightenment thought, and what is the innovative character of the genre?The key hypothesis is that the genre of Old Testament tragedy in eighteenth-century Europe has two main currents: the German-speaking and Scandinavian sphere conceives the genre as a means for conveying the Christian message, while those beyond this sphere, mainly Romance and English writers, use it rather for the advancement of their own political stances. What both have in common, however, are not only their literary sources of inspiration-John Milton's religious epic poem Paradise Lost (1667) and Jean Racine's biblical tragedy Athalie (1691)-but also the untragic ending they introduce, an innovation untypical of tragedy.By tracing the transnational similarities and divergences of tragedies from different language areas, the proposed thesis helps better understand the constitution and innovations of European Old Testament tragedies as a genre in the Age of Enlightenment. The tragedies and relevant paratexts will be subjected to close readings, supplemented by research literature. Divided into four chapters, the first chapter examines the role of Milton's Paradise Lost and Racine's Athalie as precursors of eighteenth-century Old Testament tragedy. The second chapter focuses on Klopstock's Der Tod Adams (1757), Ewald's Adam og Ewa (1769), and Bodmer's Der Tod des ersten Menschen (1776), followed by the third chapter on Voltaire's Saul et David (1762), Alfieri's Saul (1782), and More's David and Goliath (1782). The fourth chapter examines the transition to Romanticism by the example of George Gordon Byron's Cain. A Mystery (1821).In the academic year 2020/21, I have finalised the selection of tragedies, sifted through research literature, and outlined the definitive structure of my thesis. I have also written a draft of the first chapter and started writing the second chapter.

拟议的博士项目探讨了如何基于旧约悲剧构成了欧洲十八世纪的创新文学体裁。从那时起，悲剧在欧洲就一直备受争议，到了世纪，关于这一体裁的理论论文比比皆是。但是，尽管当时《旧约》悲剧的数量激增，但《圣经》主题应该如何戏剧化的问题却很少被讨论。这是值得注意的，因为悲剧最初是嵌入在一个固有的宗教背景下，在古希腊的酒神。18世纪思想界对《圣经》悲剧的关注不够，但这并没有阻止德国作家弗里德里希·戈特利布·克洛普施托克（Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock）、瑞士作家约翰·雅各布·博德默（Johann Jakob Bodmer）或丹麦作家约翰内斯·埃瓦尔德（Johannes Ewald）将《旧约》叙事戏剧化，从而将悲剧用于基督教。在德语和斯堪的纳维亚之外，伏尔泰、意大利作家维托里奥·阿尔菲里（Vittorio Alfieri）和英国作家汉娜·莫尔（Hannah More）等作家都将悲剧的主题取材于《旧约》，尽管其政治色彩要浓得多。目前对这些悲剧的研究是有限的。默里·罗斯顿在《从中世纪到现在的英国圣经戏剧》（1968）一书中重建了英语圣经戏剧的历史，但忽略了这一体裁的跨国背景。丹尼尔·魏茨曼在他的著作《1800年的宗教与文学》（Bibel und Literatur um 1800，2011）中考察了18世纪的宗教文学，但没有狭隘地关注悲剧。勒奈特河缪尔的《中世纪欧洲的圣经戏剧》（1995）涉及中世纪的圣经戏剧。因此，对18世纪欧洲旧约悲剧的比较分析是早该进行的。以下问题作为本论文的出发点：欧洲旧约悲剧如何从18世纪构成一个跨国文学体裁，在多大程度上他们纳入了潜在的冲突观念的基督教信仰和启蒙思想，是什么样的创新特点的体裁？关键的假设是，18世纪欧洲的《旧约》悲剧类型有两个主要的潮流：德语和斯堪的纳维亚地区把这种类型看作是传达基督教信息的一种手段，而这个地区以外的人，主要是罗曼语和英语作家，则把它用于推进自己的政治立场。然而，两者的共同之处不仅在于它们的文学灵感来源--约翰·米尔顿的宗教史诗《失乐园》（1667）和让·拉辛的圣经悲剧《阿塔莉》（1691）--而且还在于它们所引入的非悲剧性结局，这是一种非典型的悲剧创新。本论文的提出，有助于更好地理解启蒙时代欧洲旧约悲剧作为一种体裁的构成和创新。悲剧和相关的副文本将受到仔细阅读，辅以研究文献。分为四章，第一章探讨了米尔顿的《失乐园》和拉辛的《阿塔莉》作为十八世纪旧约悲剧先驱的作用。第二章重点介绍克洛普施托克的《死亡亚当斯》（1757）、埃瓦尔德的《亚当和埃瓦》（1769）和博德默的《死亡之门》（1776），第三章介绍伏尔泰的《扫罗和大卫》（1762）、阿尔菲里的《扫罗》（1782）和莫尔的《大卫和歌利亚》（1782）。第四章以乔治戈登拜伦的《该隐》为例，探讨了向浪漫主义的过渡。一个谜（1821）。在2020/21学年，我已经完成了悲剧的选择，通过研究文献筛选，并概述了我的论文的最终结构。我也写了第一章的草稿，开始写第二章。